Category Archives: Short Term care

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For many boomers and seniors, talking about plans for their later years with their children is not a hot agenda item. But it should be.

Planning for long-term care represents a carefully thought out decision to be made with the help of an extended care professional. You need information so you can make educated decisions about the care you may need – and Your LTC Resource is a great place to get the facts for yourself and help with your future health needs.

Just as you need that important information, your adult children do, too. Make time to sit down with your adult children and honestly discuss your preferences and your decisions. Ed & I are fully ready to help you discuss the many options for Long and Short-Term Care (and the many new hybrid plans) available to you. That talk with your kids? It’s something we’ve always recommended.

Recently, we ran across a down-to-earth guide called, “The Other Talk; A Guider to Talking with Your Adult Children About the Rest of Your Life.” The guide provides tips for honest discussions about such tough topics as:

Who do you want to help manage your finances, and how will you budget for unknown needs?

If you need assisted living, where do you want to live?

Where can your children find the documents and information they’ll need to help?

What type of medical treatments do you want — and not want?

Who will advocate for your needs?

It’s good, and very reasonably priced (available in paperback for $9 from Amazon, and on Kindle for $8.55). Click HERE for a link for more information on this book.

Education, information and frank, open talks. All three are the keys to making smart decisions, and communicating honestly with your family. ~ Ed & Elise

Very true words, and I take them seriously. Even if it means I don’t get your business.

My father always said, “Always do what’s in the best interest for your client,” and I’ve never strayed from that. Because when you work with people in planning for their future, you want to be sure you are providing them with a good service they need at a price they can afford.

Case in point: Last week I visited with a husband and wife who had both recently retired. They had no savings, were in reasonably good health, but were having trouble consistently paying their mortgage. They wanted to buy a Long-Term Care policy.

The more I talked with them, the more I was sure that Long-Term Care was not right for them. They were already strained paying their mortgage. The last thing they needed was to add another bill to their budget.

I suggested that a better route for their situation might be to get information on a reverse mortgage, since they did have equity in their home. I put them in touch with someone I knew would give them the information they needed to make a good decision.

They called me back to thank me and suggested that now that they had money in the bank, they could invest in Long-Term Care. I had to smile. I was pleased they believed so strongly in the program and in my services, but once again, I said that I didn’t feel Long-Term Care was in their best interest right now.

Would your agent have made that decision? My responsibility and commitment as a Long-Term Care planning specialist is to help navigate through the many choices available for clients, and help them choose what is best for them — even if it means I don’t sell them a policy.

I am always happy to talk to new potential customers and give them the facts about Long-Term Care and other extended care programs. And – I’m always ready to say no, if what I offer isn’t in their best interests. I think that’s the only way to go… and my father, I’m sure, would agree. ~ Elise

One sentence I’ve yet to have a potential client say is, “When I’m old, I hope to live my last days in a nursing home.”

I hear you loud and clear – that’s not your preference.

As the co-owner of YourLTCresources.net, I’m an extended care professional, and have been for the better part of the past 30 years. Helping you provide for yourself and your family in the ways you want is the best part of my job.

I know nursing home living is not part of your plan, so let’s map out a health care insurance plan that factors in your ideas, your finances, and your family. If you are approaching your 50s, right now is a great time to make key decisions while you are still vital and healthy, and make your preferences known.

I often refer to myself as a “tour guide” in the labyrinth of Long-Term and Short-Term Health Care Insurance options. Navigating that path on behalf of my clients is what I do best. And the best news I have for you is, you have a LOT of choices!

When we sit down to talk, it’s you that will be telling me what’s important to you, and how you want to live out your life. What I do is provide you with options that work with your ideas and your budget. Together we can plan for every health contingency.

You’ve worked hard to set up your life the way you want it to be. Let me help you align your future health and well being in the same way.

The May issue of Financial Planning magazine included a great article called Elder Housing Options. As the co-owner of YourLTCresources.net, I thought the article was well-researched, providing all types of data about those of us in middle age, quickly approaching retirement-decision age. As boomers know well, the past several years have not been financially kind to them.

As Financial Planning states, “For boomers, the housing market downturn couldn’t have come at a worse time. A large percentage (of boomers) no longer have the means to buy into appropriate senior-living facilities as they age.”

According to the Federal Reserve, the overall value of real estate owned by U.S. households fell to $17.65 trillion in 2012 from $22.7 trillion in 2006.

“And much of that decline hit boomers the hardest,” said Financial Planning magazine author June Fletcher, “since most were in their peak earning years when the financial meltdown occurred and were living in the largest homes they would ever own.”

Lower your taxes (possibly by moving to a state with lower or no state income taxes)

Remodel your home to make it more senior-friendly

Consider an ECHO home (temporary prefab units on a relative’s property)

Get a reverse mortgage (borrowing against the equity of your home)

Investing wisely and downsizing are good ideas. Another sound financial piece of wisdom is to think ahead and prepare for your future now, while you are healthy.

Need information and resources to make informed educated decisions about your future? That’s my specialty and my passion. I can help you learn what Long-Term Care Health Insurance, Critical Care and Short-Term Care Insurance can do to help you protect your financial future. ~ Elise

When I read Christine’s story (click HERE to read), my heart ached for her. The co-founder of the business “The Parent Care Solution,” Christine and her husband Dan created their company together after caring for Dan’s father, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.

Even though Christine and Dan, both in their 50s, had worked with dozens of couples who were under-insured and struggling to provide healthcare for an ill spouse, they had not yet invested in Long-Term Care Health Insurance for themselves. As many do, they thought they were too young for any devastating health problems.

Unfortunately, they were wrong. Dan was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 55 and died just 13 months later. After Dan was diagnosed, he could not buy Long-Term or Short-Term Health Insurance. And as the owners of a small business, Christine and Dan were under-insured with their health insurance. Thirteen months of surgeries, chemotherapy, and hospital stays took their toll not only emotionally on the two, but also financially.

As Christine says, “I became painfully aware of how important it is to have a plan during such an emotionally trying time… The longer you wait, the fewer choices you will have and the more it will cost you, emotionally as well as monetarily.”

Nothing could have eased the terrible pain and emotional suffering of this couple. But when it came to financial pain, financial health care planning could have made a big difference. The lesson Christine learned the hard way could be acted upon by you early enough to make a difference in your life and that of your spouse.

It’s just too easy to postpone talking about difficult matters. As the owner of YourLTCresources, I consider it is my personal passion to guide the “Christines and Dans” of this world with the information and resources they need to make informed, educated decisions about their future. I hope you’ll contact me to learn about what Long-Term Care Health Insurance, Critical Care and Short-Term Health Care Insurance can do for you. ~ Elise

70 percent of Americans who reach age 65 will need Long-Term care at some point, but few are prepared to pay for it, according to a new report by the SCAN Foundation on the State of Long-Term Care Financing. The report also finds that families bear a huge part of the burden, providing $450 billion in unpaid care-giving and over $63 billion in out of pocket costs.

No matter how close you are to your children, that’s a lot to ask of them. Your family may be an exception, but the fact is that families are very different now than they were a generation or two ago. Parents remarry. Sometimes more than once. Today’s adult children may have several “parent-figures.” And today’s young adults are moving farther away, and moving more often.

As a step-parent myself, I understand today’s families are complicated. Those approaching retirement assume that they will be able to rely on government support or their immediate family to provide for their care in the future, but that is no longer true. And, according to a 2010 Harris Interactive survey conducted by Age Wave, “(Seniors) are generally more afraid of burdening their family than dying.”

Long-Term Care Insurance helps mitigate some of that family complication by transferring the financial and care risk to a fixed, pre-determined place – your insurance plan. With a well-thought-out retirement plan and Long-Term Health Care Insurance, you won’t need to worry about your future care – and neither will your children..

I know from years in the financial and insurance industry that knowledge is power. I would add to that, “Risk is risk.”

Take it upon yourself to make an informed health care decision and complete a written, insured plan. Your children will thank you.

As consumers, we decide where we want to live, the type of car we prefer to drive, where to buy groceries, and so forth, right down to the type of phone we use. With Baby Boomers, it’s all about choices. And with 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every single day over the next two decades, “Boomer’s choice” is definitely a part of the Long-Term Health Care system.

As a Boomer myself, I love choices! I welcome Long-Term Health Care Insurance in its many forms – many of them hybrids to make sure the policies work just as we need them to. Taking a new, more individualized approach allows us as consumers to dial up or dial down the health and insurance features that meet their want, needs and range of budget.

It’s great to see this freedom of choice when it comes to both insurance to public programs, Short-Term Care policies, private family support, self funding, Long-Term/life insurance hybrids, or even a combination of these.

Make sure you tailor a Health Care Insurance plan around your particular considerations. A good place to start in your planning is to evaluate the cost of care where you intend to live. As shocking as this is, a private room in a nursing home can easily run to $83,950 per year, according to a new report by the SCAN Foundation on the State of Long-Term Care Financing.

It’s not easy to think about these issues, but knowledge is power, and planning is critical to assure you get the care you might need. Since there are so many choices available, why not choose the plan that works best for you? ~ Elise

AARP keeps telling us this fact, and I keep reminding my clients to pay attention: The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. AARP’s 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 studies all point to just how expensive it can be to have healthcare in our country. What’s more frightening is that medical costs continue to rise each year. Dramatically.

The first day of hospital admission averages $1,246, while the cost of discharging a patient averaged $304.

An average hospital stay in the U.S. is about $18,000. In the Netherlands and Japan, the 2nd and 3rd most expensive, comparable costs are $4,000 to $6,000 less.

U.S. average hospital charge for coronary artery bypass was $122,743 in 2010.

Average U.S. cost of hospitalization for a stroke was $87,600 in the same year.

These prices are averages, and don’t reflect costs paid by health insurance. These prices also only reflect hospital costs. Add your surgeon’s bill, your anesthetist, medications, plus quite often, rehabilitation and home health care, and frequently, nursing home care. Even Medicare or a good general supplemental health plan will only pick up 80% of these costs. (That still leaves a substantial amount on the table to be picked up by YOU!)

Don’t let a health crisis deal a critical blow to your finances. Be ready. Advance care planning is a conversation you need to have with a health insurance professionalBEFORE anything happens!

We baby boomers are changing the nature of health care planning. With 70 million of us, our dramatic numbers alone are radically altering the world of health care insurance.

As ‘boomers,’ we have high expectations and prefer to leave nothing to chance. We want control of our financial and health planning to ensure we get the type of healthy, dignified, independent, and secure future we have envisioned.

Those of us edging toward retirement plan earlier and plan thoroughly. I enjoy working with pre-retirement clients to plan for all health care contingencies. They are bright, well educated, and expect a long, healthy future with a lot more self-sufficiency and control than their parents had.

If you are a boomer, we should talk. Soon. Because nothing ever goes absolutely according to plan, it’s smart to look ahead, before a health emergency strikes you or your partner.

And, because health care prices continue to go up, health insurance costs continue to rise as well. There’s no better time to lock in rates for Long-Term Care, Short-Term Care and Crisis Care health insurance plans than right now, while you are healthy.

As a health care insurance professional for 26 years and a baby boomer myself, I can help make sure you cover all your health ‘bases’ and get the type of coverage that will leave nothing in your future to chance.

As a health insurance professional, I deal with this confusion all the time. Here’s what you need to know:

Although Medicaid and Medicare sound alike and are both government programs, they exist for very different reasons.

Medicaid is a federal program, administered by each state. It provides basic health coverage for low-income, financially dependent people. You must qualify for eligibility, which is tied to financial need.

Medicare is also a government program. It provides health insurance for people 65 or older, and people under age 65 with certain disabilities. Medicare is not tied to financial need. It is an entitlement program paid for through your Social Security taxes.

Need financial assistance while you are going through a critical illness. (But having Critical Care Health Insurance will pay you cash.)

Require prolonged health care assistance when you are older and in need of assisted living, nursing home care, hospice or home health care (Like Long-Term Care Insurance does.)

Need a cash benefit over and above any other medical insurance or disability insurance (As Short-Term Care and Critical CareHealth Insurance will provide).

I am sensitive to the worry I see in my potential clients’ faces when they consider how they want to be cared for, should they face a health crisis. That’s why health insurance advance planning makes good sense.

There is nothing that beats surefooted planning for all possibilities. That helps our clients – and me – rest easier, knowing they are protected.